Early red tomatoes

[matertoo]

I also think Bloody Butcher was a fine early mater.

Happy Matering,

Paul

[erlyberd]

I'll second Kimberly, (My fav extra early for taste and earliness) super fast at 105 days from seed. Moskvich (More of a mid season at 132 days from seed) but flavor was good. Stupice and Uralskiy Ranniy pulled a tie at 110 days from seed both were tasty for early season. I found Manitoba to be rather bland and not so early, more like a mid season. Siberia was bland as well and slower than the above mentioned. Then Cherokee Purple was kind with just 122 days from seed for some tasty treats. But to really answer you question the best early tomatoe for market is what grows fastest in your given area, soil, conditions and hopefully there is a demand for being the first to offer it. I had extremely good luck with Black Price at 115 days from seed and Henderson's Pink Ponderosa at 116 day from seed.

[OneoftheEarls]

some of my info

http://45thparallelseeds.webs.com/ex...garden2010.htm

[Full Moon]

Earl,

I looked at your link and am interested to know when did you get your first fruit from the April 30th planting and which one was it.

I read it twice and couldn't find the info but it could also be me.

[OneoftheEarls]

July 24th...Park's Whopper and Harnas but mind you....we were gone for two weeks to New Mexico with no one to mind the garden.

Harnas was the first from seed to transplant to ripe...sun ripened.

[barkeater]

One year I grew Bloody Butcher and Kimberly side by side. They are almost identical except BB is a little bigger, but still small, and more productive. Even in the North Country I consistently get my first BB 49-50 days after transplant.

I tried a bunch of earlies together one year including Manitoba, Early Wonder, Bush Beefsteak, Superbec, Mountain Princess and a couple others. All were at least a week after Bloody Butcher. Early Wonder had the best flavor and Manitoba was the largest.

[OneoftheEarls]

All were at least a week after Bloody Butcher. Early Wonder had the best flavor and Manitoba was the largest.

Good info.

Thanks for posting.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by tedln

Russ,

I think it probably is a better tomato than I give it credit for. I believe the reason it didn't perform well for me is my fault. I didn't get it planted early enough for an early tomato. I had two plants and got three or four ping pong ball sized fruits. I thought they had died in the summer heat, but suddenly they put out some new growth in late August, (hot, hot weather) bloomed and set a few more small fruit in my fall garden. A few were large enough to eat, but most ripened when tiny like peanuts.

Ted

Jetsetter is a lot like Stupice in that it performs much better in cool weather and slows down when it gets really hot. I was surprised after picking a bunch of Jetsetters that ripened nicely very early; that they tended to grow and ripen much slower and they were smaller once it got really hot down here. I grew about a dozen different varieties on my porch during the winter this year and those two ripened good even with the cold temps and limited sunlight.

[Full Moon]

July 24th...Park's Whopper and Harnas

Earl,

I saw that info in your link but didn't think it was the first ones.

From April 30th that's about 84 days. Even if you take a week off that because you were away it's still puts it at 77 days. That surprised me a bit. But then I saw that you lost some of the super early ones you had planted.

I'm not trying to be a smarty pants. I am growing in Canada for the first time this year and am still trying to figure out my tactic in dealing with my new environment.

So based on your experience would you say that unless you use something to warm up the soil (as well as plant protection from frost) end of April planting didn't do much in terms of getting something earlier?

[habitat_gardener]

I planted a bunch of earlies last year, but it was so cold last spring that it took many of them a few weeks to germinate in the cold frames, they grew very slowly, and I got them all in the ground a couple months later than usual, in late June -- with walls-o-water. And then I had hardly any time to spend on the garden after that. On the other hand, the whole summer was cool, so I have no idea how they'd do in warm weather. I even had to replace a couple plants because they died in the cold in late June! (Usually I buy a plant or two in Feb-Mar to get tomatoes in June, plant my seed-grown varieties in April, and can remove walls-o-water by mid to late May.) Some of the compact/ indeterminate ones were in 5g containers (c), which didn't get extra water or fertilizer or attention.

most planted june 20-25; date of first tomato
aug26: Moravsky Div[red]
aug30: Bloody Butcher (3-8 oz. strain from Marko)[red]; Pozhar[red], Medovaya Kaplya[yellow]
sep6: Pervaya Lyubov[pink], Kimberly(c)[red]
sep9: Crnkovic[pink], Clear Pink Early(c)[pink]
sep13: Super Snow White [white], Kazachka[black]
sep20: Lida Ukrainian(c)[red], ARGG Cherry[green], Sophie's Choice (c)[red]
(also grew 25+ other varieties)

So for me, the clear winner for large and early was Bloody Butcher. Moravsky Div did pretty well, too. Some of the later-producing container plants were in a little more shade, perhaps accounting for the lateness of Sophie's and Lida.

By the time enough of them were ripe so that I could compare them, it was Sept., and even my favorite larger varieties that were still producing well started tasting just average by then. In August, Moravsky Div tasted better than Bloody Butcher, but in Sept., the reverse. When I compared them all in Sept., Kazachka was the best of the bunch. CPE had some sweetness, Kimberly was not bad, SSW and ARGGC had good flavor (but cherries are usually more reliable than larger varieties here), and Pervaya Lyubov had a nice flavor. Medovaya Kaplya kept producing until I picked them all in late Nov. just before the first frost, and I ate the last of those in mid January.

[OneoftheEarls]

So based on your experience would you say that unless you use something to warm up the soil (as well as plant protection from frost) end of April planting didn't do much in terms of getting something earlier?

That and we had a real mild spring.